The Wall Street Legal & Regulatory Feed
Securities Industry Commentator by Bill Singer Esq
May 2, 2022
https://www.brokeandbroker.com/6432/howard-sec /
In 2020, the SEC swore in a Complaint filed in a United States District Court that Donald Lee Howard was 65. In 2021, the SEC alleged in a administrative order that Howard was 76. Ummm . . . someone wanna explain to me (and, while you're at it, to the SEC) how a human being aged 11 years in one year. Sort of a Benjamin Button in reverse.
https://www.finra.org/sites/default/files/2022-03/2022-industry-snapshot.pdf
FINRA's annual statistical report on the brokerage firms, registered representatives and market activity that the self-regulatory-organization oversees.
SEC Charges CEO and President of Synergy Settlement Services with Fraudulent Operation of Special Needs Pooled Trusts / Defendants allegedly used funds from deceased beneficiaries' accounts on golf tournaments and beach parties (SEC Release)
https://www.sec.gov/news/press-release/2022-76
In a Complaint filed in the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida
https://www.sec.gov/litigation/complaints/2022/comp-pr2022-76.pdf, the SEC charged Synergy Settlement Services, Inc., Foundation for Those with Special Needs Inc., Special Needs Law Firm PLLC, Jason D. Lazarus, and Anthony F. Pireto, Jr. with violating the antifraud provisions of the federal securities laws; and, further, the Complaint charges Synergy, Lazarus, and Prieto with violating the registration provisions of the federal securities laws. Additionally, the SEC charged True Link Financial Advisors, LLC, and its Chief Executive Officer Kai H. Stinchcombe in their role as investment and asset manager for the pooled trusts. Without admitting or denying the findings, True Link and Stinchcombe agreed to settle their case in a separate cease-and-desist proceeding and to pay $200,000 and $20,000, respectively, in civil money penalties. As alleged in part in the SEC Release:
https://www.sec.gov/litigation/complaints/2022/comp-pr2022-76.pdf, the SEC charged Synergy Settlement Services, Inc., Foundation for Those with Special Needs Inc., Special Needs Law Firm PLLC, Jason D. Lazarus, and Anthony F. Pireto, Jr. with violating the antifraud provisions of the federal securities laws; and, further, the Complaint charges Synergy, Lazarus, and Prieto with violating the registration provisions of the federal securities laws. Additionally, the SEC charged True Link Financial Advisors, LLC, and its Chief Executive Officer Kai H. Stinchcombe in their role as investment and asset manager for the pooled trusts. Without admitting or denying the findings, True Link and Stinchcombe agreed to settle their case in a separate cease-and-desist proceeding and to pay $200,000 and $20,000, respectively, in civil money penalties. As alleged in part in the SEC Release:
[L]azarus and Prieto formed the Foundation for Those with Special Needs, Inc. as a non-profit company to "assist personal injury victims with special needs." The defendants, however, concealed from the beneficiaries, the Internal Revenue Service, and the Social Security Administration that they diverted at least $775,000 in trustee and joinder fees directly from the beneficiaries' accounts to their for-profit business, Synergy. The SEC also alleges the defendants improperly used funds from deceased beneficiaries' accounts to reimburse themselves, sponsor events and parties, and promote Synergy's for-profit business. Synergy, Lazarus, and Prieto allegedly also did not tell beneficiaries they were investing beneficiaries' money in a certain class of mutual fund that doubled the fees the beneficiaries were told they were paying.
SEC Obtains Judgment Against Corporate Officer Charged with Assisting Microcap Fraud Scheme (SEC Release)
https://www.sec.gov/litigation/litreleases/2022/lr25378.htm
Without admitting or denying the allegations in an SEC Complaint filed in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York, William R. Shupe consented to the entry of a Final Judgment permanently enjoining him from violating the antifraud provisions of Section 17(a) of the Securities Act, and the antifraud provisions of Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act and Rule 10b-5 thereunder; and to the imposition of a five-year penny stock bar, a five-year officer and director bar, and a $100,000 civil penalty, as well as surrendering shares he held in one of the microcap companies at issue. Without admitting or denying the allegations in the SEC Complaint, FJ Investments International, Inc. consented to the entry of a Final Judgment permanently enjoining it from violating the antifraud provisions of Section 17(a) of the Securities Act, and the antifraud provisions of Sections 10(b) and 13(d) of the Exchange Act and Rules 10b-5 and 13d-1 thereunder; and to pay $1,046 in disgorgement and to surrender shares it held in one of the microcap companies at issue. As alleged in part in the SEC Release:
[F]rom 2016 through at least November 2019, Shupe worked with others to illegally sell the stock of several microcap companies to retail investors. Shupe served in the roles of officer and director and/or majority shareholder at three microcap companies. In these roles as company insider, Shupe allegedly helped his associates, Timothy and Trevor Page, conceal the Pages' control over the companies so the Pages could secretly fund the companies and amass and then dump large quantities of the companies' stock in violation of the securities laws. Shupe also allegedly created and used FJ Investments to help the Pages disguise and distribute the proceeds of their illegal stock sales.